July 30, 2008 Wednesday Evening Message [22:44m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

John 3:16 [+/-]John 3:16 [16]"For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. (ESV)

July 30, 2008 Wednesday Evening message by Pastor Al

I am still at the place where I want somebody to show up at my office and tell me that this was all a wonderful hoax from Sheila.  She thought it would be interesting to see what would happen if people thought she was no longer here.  I can see her bright eyes and ADHD body bouncing into my office with that hilarious laugh saying, “gotcha pastor Al.”  I think about her every day.  I grieve every day.  I want to see her just one more time every day.

Sheila was, well; she was different.  I have never met anyone just like her in all of my life.  She lived her life at warp speed, nothing held back.  Lukewarm was not in her vocabulary.  Luther once admonished his congregation in the face of the amazing grace of God to sin boldly.  Well, she both sinned and served God with a boldness.  Balance was not a mark of her character.  Beauty was.  She never saw it in the way that we did.  She saw herself in ways that became her enemy rather than her friend.  But she was beautiful.  Have you ever been around Sheila and felt badly?  She had the wonderful gift of hospitality.  Everybody arond her felt better simply because she was around.

I wrote this afternoon to a good friend who is praying for me in these days in ways that are very real and genuine that Sheila was a walking testimony to why I so detest “fix it” formulas and “how to” books on the Christian life.  From the moment of her new birth to the time of her entry into glory she did war between walking in the Spirit and gratifying the desires of the flesh.  And there was never a doubt about which one she most desired.  She loved Jesus and wanted to honor Him with her life, but oh the passions of the flesh.  Some of us know how real are the desires of the flesh.  Only the fake and the false would deny them their power.  It is a dangerous thing to do that.  Paul knew it.  He would write that all of us should pay attention to ourselves and take heed to ourselves lest we fall.  The moment that we think we have got this thing called walking in faith, that is moment that might fall the flattest and the furthest.  It is no easy thing in this body to live in faith and faithfulness, and one can never be divorced from the other.

I am writing these words not to spill my guts on you but to work out some of what is in me.  It is helpful to me in my grieving.  If it is not to you, then use the “delete” button.  If it is, then join me in this conversation.  This is not about exalting Sheila.  She was my sister but she was no saint, at least in terms of how we often think of that term.  Saint Sheila?  It just doesn’t sound right, does it?  She was Sheila.  She was unique.  She was a sinner saved by the grace of God.  She lived in the rough of tumble of this world wrestling both with God and her chief enemy.  God won.  She is at home.  Can you hear her laughter?  See her sparkle?  I wonder if there are people with ADHD in heaven?

 

 A Book on Parenting II [43:14m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Proverbs 22:6 [+/-]Proverbs 22:6 [6]Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it.

Continuing from last weeks message, Pastor Al continues sharing wisdom, from God’s Word. The Principle verse for parents in Proverbs is Proverbs 22:6 [+/-]Proverbs 22:6 [6]Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it.
, Pastor Al explains what this powerful verse teaches, and how to apply it to our lives as parents. He also shares the pattern of proverbs, and the 4 principles found within that build on each other.

The primary priority of parents according to the parent book is to teach children to fear God, Proverbs 13:7 [+/-]Proverbs 13:7 [7]One pretends to be rich, yet has nothing; another pretends to be poor, yet has great wealth.
(and thirteen other times) Isaiah 33:5-6 [+/-]Isaiah 33:5-6 [5]The LORD is exalted, for he dwells on high; he will fill Zion with justice and righteousness, [6]and he will be the stability of your times, abundance of salvation, wisdom, and knowledge; the fear of the LORD is Zion's treasure.
“When we larn to fear God, we fear nothing else. When we do not learn to fear God, we fear everything else.” Chambers

Learn more about this message by downloading the sermon notes here!

Proverbs 1:1-7 [+/-]Proverbs 1:1-7 [1:1]The proverbs of Solomon, son of David, king of Israel: [2]To know wisdom and instruction, to understand words of insight, [3]to receive instruction in wise dealing, in righteousness, justice, and equity; [4]to give prudence to the simple, knowledge and discretion to the youth-- [5]Let the wise hear and increase in learning, and the one who understands obtain guidance, [6]to understand a proverb and a saying, the words of the wise and their riddles. [7]The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and instruction.

The Book of Proverbs was brought into being by God as a parenting manual. The formal part of the book begins in chapter one verse 8 where God speaks first to fathers as the ones who are raised up by God to take the lead in establishing both the spiritual context and content of the home and then God speaks to mothers. The book ends with that beautiful passage in Proverbs 31 [+/-]Proverbs 31 [31:1]The words of King Lemuel. An oracle that his mother taught him: [2]What are you doing, my son? What are you doing, son of my womb? What are you doing, son of my vows? [3]Do not give your strength to women, your ways to those who destroy kings. [4]It is not for kings, O Lemuel, it is not for kings to drink wine, or for rulers to take strong drink, [5]lest they drink and forget what has been decreed and pervert the rights of all the afflicted. [6]Give strong drink to the one who is perishing, and wine to those in bitter distress; [7]let them drink and forget their poverty and remember their misery no more. [8]Open your mouth for the mute, for the rights of all who are destitute. [9]Open your mouth, judge righteously, defend the rights of the poor and needy. [10] An excellent wife who can find? She is far more precious than jewels. [11]The heart of her husband trusts in her, and he will have no lack of gain. [12]She does him good, and not harm, all the days of her life. [13]She seeks wool and flax, and works with willing hands. [14]She is like the ships of the merchant; she brings her food from afar. [15]She rises while it is yet night and provides food for her household and portions for her maidens. [16]She considers a field and buys it; with the fruit of her hands she plants a vineyard. [17]She dresses herself with strength and makes her arms strong. [18]She perceives that her merchandise is profitable. Her lamp does not go out at night. [19]She puts her hands to the distaff, and her hands hold the spindle. [20]She opens her hand to the poor and reaches out her hands to the needy. [21]She is not afraid of snow for her household, for all her household are clothed in scarlet. [22]She makes bed coverings for herself; her clothing is fine linen and purple. [23]Her husband is known in the gates when he sits among the elders of the land. [24]She makes linen garments and sells them; she delivers sashes to the merchant. [25]Strength and dignity are her clothing, and she laughs at the time to come. [26]She opens her mouth with wisdom, and the teaching of kindness is on her tongue. [27]She looks well to the ways of her household and does not eat the bread of idleness. [28]Her children rise up and call her blessed; her husband also, and he praises her: [29]"Many women have done excellently, but you surpass them all." [30]Charm is deceitful, and beauty is vain, but a woman who fears the LORD is to be praised. [31]Give her of the fruit of her hands, and let her works praise her in the gates.
[+/-]Proverbs 31 [+/-]Proverbs 31 [31:1]The words of King Lemuel. An oracle that his mother taught him: [2]What are you doing, my son? What are you doing, son of my womb? What are you doing, son of my vows? [3]Do not give your strength to women, your ways to those who destroy kings. [4]It is not for kings, O Lemuel, it is not for kings to drink wine, or for rulers to take strong drink, [5]lest they drink and forget what has been decreed and pervert the rights of all the afflicted. [6]Give strong drink to the one who is perishing, and wine to those in bitter distress; [7]let them drink and forget their poverty and remember their misery no more. [8]Open your mouth for the mute, for the rights of all who are destitute. [9]Open your mouth, judge righteously, defend the rights of the poor and needy. [10] An excellent wife who can find? She is far more precious than jewels. [11]The heart of her husband trusts in her, and he will have no lack of gain. [12]She does him good, and not harm, all the days of her life. [13]She seeks wool and flax, and works with willing hands. [14]She is like the ships of the merchant; she brings her food from afar. [15]She rises while it is yet night and provides food for her household and portions for her maidens. [16]She considers a field and buys it; with the fruit of her hands she plants a vineyard. [17]She dresses herself with strength and makes her arms strong. [18]She perceives that her merchandise is profitable. Her lamp does not go out at night. [19]She puts her hands to the distaff, and her hands hold the spindle. [20]She opens her hand to the poor and reaches out her hands to the needy. [21]She is not afraid of snow for her household, for all her household are clothed in scarlet. [22]She makes bed coverings for herself; her clothing is fine linen and purple. [23]Her husband is known in the gates when he sits among the elders of the land. [24]She makes linen garments and sells them; she delivers sashes to the merchant. [25]Strength and dignity are her clothing, and she laughs at the time to come. [26]She opens her mouth with wisdom, and the teaching of kindness is on her tongue. [27]She looks well to the ways of her household and does not eat the bread of idleness. [28]Her children rise up and call her blessed; her husband also, and he praises her: [29]"Many women have done excellently, but you surpass them all." [30]Charm is deceitful, and beauty is vain, but a woman who fears the LORD is to be praised. [31]Give her of the fruit of her hands, and let her works praise her in the gates.
[31:1]The words of King Lemuel. An oracle that his mother taught him: [2]What are you doing, my son? What are you doing, son of my womb? What are you doing, son of my vows? [3]Do not give your strength to women, your ways to those who destroy kings. [4]It is not for kings, O Lemuel, it is not for kings to drink wine, or for rulers to take strong drink, [5]lest they drink and forget what has been decreed and pervert the rights of all the afflicted. [6]Give strong drink to the one who is perishing, and wine to those in bitter distress; [7]let them drink and forget their poverty and remember their misery no more. [8]Open your mouth for the mute, for the rights of all who are destitute. [9]Open your mouth, judge righteously, defend the rights of the poor and needy. [10] An excellent wife who can find? She is far more precious than jewels. [11]The heart of her husband trusts in her, and he will have no lack of gain. [12]She does him good, and not harm, all the days of her life. [13]She seeks wool and flax, and works with willing hands. [14]She is like the ships of the merchant; she brings her food from afar. [15]She rises while it is yet night and provides food for her household and portions for her maidens. [16]She considers a field and buys it; with the fruit of her hands she plants a vineyard. [17]She dresses herself with strength and makes her arms strong. [18]She perceives that her merchandise is profitable. Her lamp does not go out at night. [19]She puts her hands to the distaff, and her hands hold the spindle. [20]She opens her hand to the poor and reaches out her hands to the needy. [21]She is not afraid of snow for her household, for all her household are clothed in scarlet. [22]She makes bed coverings for herself; her clothing is fine linen and purple. [23]Her husband is known in the gates when he sits among the elders of the land. [24]She makes linen garments and sells them; she delivers sashes to the merchant. [25]Strength and dignity are her clothing, and she laughs at the time to come. [26]She opens her mouth with wisdom, and the teaching of kindness is on her tongue. [27]She looks well to the ways of her household and does not eat the bread of idleness. [28]Her children rise up and call her blessed; her husband also, and he praises her: [29]“Many women have done excellently, but you surpass them all.” [30]Charm is deceitful, and beauty is vain, but a woman who fears the LORD is to be praised. [31]Give her of the fruit of her hands, and let her works praise her in the gates.
This text is from the ESV Bible. Visit www.esv.org to learn about the ESV. that opens with the question, “who can find and excellent wife?” And the rest of the book is a description of this beautifully godly woman. The beginning and the ending are no accident. A man is to take the lead in leading his family toward being a family that honors God in worship and obeys God in witness. The father is the one who leads the way in establishing the context and expressing the content that makes it clear that the commitment of his family to God is foundational to everything else. But in order for that to happen, he has to have alongside him a godly wife. Pray for the man who wants to be a godly man and lead his family as a godly husband but whose wife does not support him in this endeavor. Oh, she may or may not come to church; what is clear at home, however, is that she is more committed to the things of this world than she is the things of God. This man lives in a very difficult place. So pray for him and for his wife that our heart may be changed. And pray for our young people who are dating that they would understand that if they are serious about loving and serving God that the first requirement of anyone they would date is simply that this person be deeply devoted to Jesus. This issue matters more than any other for all of us who call ourselves the children of God. So, the formal part of the book begins and ends with a focus on a father and the father in relationship to the godly wife and mother.

Learn more about this message by downloading the sermon notes here!

 

 July 27, 2008 - Sunday Evening message [46:08m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

July 27, 2008 message by Pastor Al

 

 the book on Parenting [45:35m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Proverbs 1:1-7 [+/-]Proverbs 1:1-7 [1:1]The proverbs of Solomon, son of David, king of Israel: [2]To know wisdom and instruction, to understand words of insight, [3]to receive instruction in wise dealing, in righteousness, justice, and equity; [4]to give prudence to the simple, knowledge and discretion to the youth-- [5]Let the wise hear and increase in learning, and the one who understands obtain guidance, [6]to understand a proverb and a saying, the words of the wise and their riddles. [7]The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and instruction.

The Book of Proverbs was brought into being by God as a parenting manual. The formal part of the book begins in chapter one verse 8 where God speaks first to fathers as the ones who are raised up by God to take the lead in establishing both the spiritual context and content of the home and then God speaks to mothers. The book ends with that beautiful passage in Proverbs 31 [+/-]Proverbs 31 [31:1]The words of King Lemuel. An oracle that his mother taught him: [2]What are you doing, my son? What are you doing, son of my womb? What are you doing, son of my vows? [3]Do not give your strength to women, your ways to those who destroy kings. [4]It is not for kings, O Lemuel, it is not for kings to drink wine, or for rulers to take strong drink, [5]lest they drink and forget what has been decreed and pervert the rights of all the afflicted. [6]Give strong drink to the one who is perishing, and wine to those in bitter distress; [7]let them drink and forget their poverty and remember their misery no more. [8]Open your mouth for the mute, for the rights of all who are destitute. [9]Open your mouth, judge righteously, defend the rights of the poor and needy. [10] An excellent wife who can find? She is far more precious than jewels. [11]The heart of her husband trusts in her, and he will have no lack of gain. [12]She does him good, and not harm, all the days of her life. [13]She seeks wool and flax, and works with willing hands. [14]She is like the ships of the merchant; she brings her food from afar. [15]She rises while it is yet night and provides food for her household and portions for her maidens. [16]She considers a field and buys it; with the fruit of her hands she plants a vineyard. [17]She dresses herself with strength and makes her arms strong. [18]She perceives that her merchandise is profitable. Her lamp does not go out at night. [19]She puts her hands to the distaff, and her hands hold the spindle. [20]She opens her hand to the poor and reaches out her hands to the needy. [21]She is not afraid of snow for her household, for all her household are clothed in scarlet. [22]She makes bed coverings for herself; her clothing is fine linen and purple. [23]Her husband is known in the gates when he sits among the elders of the land. [24]She makes linen garments and sells them; she delivers sashes to the merchant. [25]Strength and dignity are her clothing, and she laughs at the time to come. [26]She opens her mouth with wisdom, and the teaching of kindness is on her tongue. [27]She looks well to the ways of her household and does not eat the bread of idleness. [28]Her children rise up and call her blessed; her husband also, and he praises her: [29]"Many women have done excellently, but you surpass them all." [30]Charm is deceitful, and beauty is vain, but a woman who fears the LORD is to be praised. [31]Give her of the fruit of her hands, and let her works praise her in the gates.
that opens with the question, “who can find and excellent wife?” And the rest of the book is a description of this beautifully godly woman. The beginning and the ending are no accident. A man is to take the lead in leading his family toward being a family that honors God in worship and obeys God in witness. The father is the one who leads the way in establishing the context and expressing the content that makes it clear that the commitment of his family to God is foundational to everything else. But in order for that to happen, he has to have alongside him a godly wife. Pray for the man who wants to be a godly man and lead his family as a godly husband but whose wife does not support him in this endeavor. Oh, she may or may not come to church; what is clear at home, however, is that she is more committed to the things of this world than she is the things of God. This man lives in a very difficult place. So pray for him and for his wife that our heart may be changed. And pray for our young people who are dating that they would understand that if they are serious about loving and serving God that the first requirement of anyone they would date is simply that this person be deeply devoted to Jesus. This issue matters more than any other for all of us who call ourselves the children of God. So, the formal part of the book begins and ends with a focus on a father and the father in relationship to the godly wife and mother.

Learn more about this message by downloading the sermon notes here!

Forget Calvinism?  Now that ought to get your attention.  But the line addresses both a danger and a concern.  The concern is that some who read this blog would think that Calvinism is to be associated with a theological movement that emerged in the sixteenth century that was not present before that time.  Wrong.  Calvinism was in the sixteenth century simply the then most recent emergence of the defense of genuine biblical Christianity that can be traced back to the apostle Paul and his understanding of the Gospel of Jesus.  Paul faced in Galatia those who wanted to add to the Gospel and thus make salvation something that humans did and he faced in Corinth those who wanted to take away from the Gospel thus allowing humans who could confess that their souls were saved while living lives by the ways of the world and thinking nothing of it since those who thus lived had created a Gospel to their own liking.  Much like we have done in our own day.  One of my greatest concerns in our culture is the thousands of people who make a profession of faith or say a prayer to be saved and then live in ways that are basically moral on most days but at the same time are living lives divorced from the church and dedicated to doing whatever they want to do so long as it doesn’t hurt them or anybody else.  And they think they are saved. If they are right, then the Bible lies and if the Bible is true, then they are in a dreadfully dark dillemma.  From Paul to the present, the church has had to fight back and fight off a fundamental heresy with regards to salvation and that heresy is simply that our salvation is up to us and it is a decision that we make when we are ready to make it and that decision  has primarily to do with a part of us (our souls) that we secure for heaven by our decision regardless of how we live here below both inside and outside the church.  This heresy has reared its ugly head in every era so that what Calvin was addressing was not something brand new nor did it go away after his day.

I have been reading a very wonderful and simple little book by David N. Steele and Curtis C. Thomas, The Five Points of Calvinism:  Defined, Defended and Documented. I want to quote a section of that book that I hope will help us to see the larger picture that Calvin was facing as well as those who came before and after him.  This section is found on p. 14 of the book and reads, “J. I Packer, in analyzing the system of thought embodied in the Remonstance, observes, ‘the theology which it contained (known to history as Arminianism) stemmed from two philosophical principles:  first, that divine sovereignty is not compatible with human freedom, nor therefore with human responsibility; second that ability limits obligation . . . from these principles, the Arminians drew two deductions:  first, that since the Bible regards faith as a free and responsible act, it cannot be caused by God, but it is exercised independently of Him; second that since the Bible regards faith as oblilgatory on the part of those of all who hear the gospel, ability to believe must be universal.  Hence they maintained that Scripture must be interpreted as teaching the following positions: (now let me stop the quote here to make sure that we understand exactly what is being said.  Arminianism or the view that the initiative for salvation is from us to God and not from God to us requires us to believe in prinicple that divine sovereignty and human freedom cannot be held together.  Is that true?  Is it biblically true?  Second, is it true biblcially that ability limits oblilgation so that humans can plead ignorance before God if we can argue inablility to understand and comprehend His truth?  Third, is it true that who hear the gospel are obliged to obey the gospel?  These principles set forth by Packer are foundational for what follows), “1.  Man is never so completely corrupted by sin that he cannot savingly believe the gospel when it is set before him nor, 2.  is he ever so completely controlled by God that he cannot reject it .  3.  God’s election of those who shall be saved is prompted by his foreseeing that they will of their own will believe (quick pause:  be sure you understand that Arminians believe in election or they have to deny that God has foreknowledge or omniscience but what they believe is that God knows who will believe based on their believing so that the emphasis is on the choice that humans will make and not on the control that God has; I hope this one makes sense to you) 4.  Christ’s death did not assure the salvation of anyone but secured salvation for anyone and everyone who believes (which by the way opens the door to the possibility that nobody would or that everybody would but the most horrifying thought is that when Jesus was hanging on the cross and crying out in pain, this view requires us to belelive that He had no idea whether or not anyone would ever come to live a life of commitment to Him), 5. It rests with believers to keep themselves in grace.  Our security is  up to us.”

Be sure you read the above words carefully and get the book from which these words are quoted.  My concern is that we think that Calvinism is a historical phenomenon that just happened and then passed.  We must know that it simply represented the position that was present from Paul and the danger is that we reduce our understanding of God to a theological system as helpful as one might be.  At the end of the day we simply want to love God through His Word and understand who He is to us through the revelation in His Word.  His Word is the final arbiter of all truth.

Perseverance of the Saints is the final petal in the TULIP.  It is the one that brings focus to all the rest and it is the one to which many Arminians or Pelagians want to hold without holding onto the rest.  Some who call themselves Arminians mean by that simply that they believe in free will that is fully free or that they believe that the initiative and impetus for salvation is within us and does not come from without.  In other words, I can choose to be saved by God’s grace whenever I want to make that choice.  It is totally up to me.  But this not classic Arminianism or Pelagianism.  The classic variety holds that entering into a relationship with God and staying in that relationship with God is tied totally to what I do.  I make the choice to enter the relationship and I can make the choice to exit the relationship.  I can be saved, then be lost, and then be saved again. I can come in repentance and faith to Jesus and then by my own choice reject that relationship to which I have entered.  This is classic Arminianism where getting in and staying in is all up to us.

That is why when I hear conversations about Calvinism being such a bug-a-boo and then listen to people who are talking that way, I want to throw up my hands in holy laughter because some whom I have heard being critical of Calvinism are themselves classic Calvinists!  A classic Calvinist is simply someone who believes in the absolute sovereignty of God and the total sinfulness of humans so that God alone can save us and He does it by His grace.  A classic Calvinist is one who believes that it is God who paid the price for our redemption.  We bring nothing all to the table except the filthy rags of our rotten and ruinous righteousness.  We come as penitents pleading for mercy.  We arrive as outcasts wanting to be welcomed.  We come as enemies of Christ desiring to be reconciled, and all of that because of the grace of God that awakens us to our sinfulness in the light of His holiness as He brings us the good gifts of repentance and faith and brings us alive again, we who were dead in our sin.  A true Calvinist believes that when God awakens a sinner and saves that sinner by His grace, God keeps what God does.  God secures what God saves.  But God does more than this.

This holy and righteous God who could have chosen to save no single solitary soul and still be God has chosen to save some.  And those who are saved from His side are known to Him from before the foundation of the world.  From our side we only know this that whoever cries out to God in true repentance and faith is saved by this God.  This God is reaching to save all who cry to Him in repentance.  But how do we know that we are saved?  This God who gives all that is needed to get saved, gives in equal measure all that is needed to give evidence of that great salvation that He has given us.  He imputes to us His righteousness or He declares us to be by position what we are not in person:  fully right and perfectly holy in His presence.  And then He imparts to us His Holy Spirit, His very presence and power to work in us and on us and through us to make us all that He wants us to be.  And He does that because when He saves us and secures us, He begins to shape us for His purposes which is simply that we live in obedience to Him to give praise to His Name because what is at stake ultimately is His credibility and integrity as God.  Thus, He does not trust either our salvation or our sanctification to us.  He gives us what we need so that we can work out our own salvation with fear and trembling because He is the one who is working in us for His pleasure.

One of my real struggles is that I am increasingly running into people who want salvation to be all about them and their choice, but they want their eternal security to be all about God.  They trust themselves to do what is necessary to get saved but they do not trust themselves to do all that is necessary to stay saved.  They want half the truth.  All heresy is half the truth.  Now the truth is that you either do what is necessary to get saved and thus you do all that is necessary to stay saved which means that you and I are responsible for perfecting ourselves in holiness or God does what is necessary to give by grace glorious salvation and then God does all that is necessary to keep all whom He has saved.  Now the real issue here is not which of these options is most attractive.  The real issue is what would cause us to want to mix the two?

Here is my answer.  if we mix the two so that salvation is up to me and staying saved is up to God then I can make getting saved whatever I want to make it.  I can make it my saying a prayer or walking an aisle or being baptized or making a profession of faith.  I can make it easy on myself and then just kick back because I have the other side of the equation that God is going to keep now what I have done.  Does anybody see this kind of thing happening in the church in our day?  Is this a fox in the henhouse or satan among the society of the saints?  Wouldn’t it be wonderful really if I could make getting saved what I want it to be and when I want it to be and then turn it all over to God to keep what I have done.  But it doesn’t work that way. It is either all of God who saves and keeps by grace or it is all of us who choose and lose only to choose again, and perhaps lose again.  The latter is a true Arminian.  The former is a true Calvinist.

Let me just say one other thing here that is so fascinating to me.  The reformed or Augustinian or Pauline or Calvinist view of salvation has been the exclusive view of salvation from the second century through the late nineteenth century.  Every time the “other view” reared its head, it was condemned as heresy by the leaders of the church, until the late nineteenth century and for sure in the twentieth century under the influence of the revivalist and church growth movement, the latter view began to sway the thoughts of many and the former, biblical view; began to recede.  And this is so important:  what began to shape the life of the church in the late nineteenth and twentieth century was not the biblical view of salvation but the practical concerns of getting people in so as to grow a church so as to have the numbers to build buildings and to sustain programs.  You can write this one down:  whenever a church focuses on growth through numbers only, the first doctrine to be depleted is the doctrine of salvation. The church focused on numerical growth only will make it easy for people to get saved and to get into the church. 

I praise God not for the recovery of historic Calvinism but for something far more important.  What Calvin communicated was simply what Paul had preached and what Paul preached was no more and no less that who Jesus and what Jesus did and who Jesus was and what Jesus did was no more and no less than the fulfillment of the Old Testament so that the recovery of historic Calvinism is simply a return to the core issues of the Gospel of Jesus Christ which is the heart and soul of the canon of sacred scripture. 

 

 Alaska Mission Trip Team Report - 2008 [58:51m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

This July, we had a team return to Hollis Alaska, to assist Jeff and Rhonda Jones with various tasks. Enjoy hearing about the trip directly from the team members!

It is a complete misunderstanding of this tenet of TULIP that would say that we cannot resist the grace of God.  Irresistible grace does not make us into pawns in the hands of a God who manipulates us however He wills to manipulate us.  Irresistible grace is simply on the one side the logical outcome of the other tenets that culminates in the perseverance of the saints and on the other side a clear affirmation of the greatness of the grace of God.

Irresistible grace simply means that the grace of God is so powerful and so overwhelming that when this great God moves into our lives by His grace, that grace changes our hearts and thus our lives.  And that change comes as a result of the work of God in our lives.  Remember that the core of genuine Calvinism is that we are sinners who are born into sin and we cannot help but sin AND our God is a holy and righteous God whose holiness and rightesouness demands either that He destroy sinners or that He deal with sin.  What God has chosen to do is to deal with sin by offering His one and only son as the sacrifice for sin and for sinners.  We are saved by the grace of God by the God who has chosen us and called us to Himself the evidence of that call and choice being seen in the manifestation of His grace to sinners.  But how does this wonderful grace of God manifest itself in relationship to sinners?  Here is where the whole idea of irrestistible grace finds its focus.

If sin is as deep and dark in us as the Bible declares it to be, then the only freedom we have in choosing direction in life is in terms of how we express our sinfulness.  The only truly free human beings ever created were Adam and Eve.  They had the freedom to choose to obey God and His directives or to disobey God and His directives.  They chose to disobey.  And from that moment until now, the result is humans who are born into sin and are thus “dead in our trespasses and sins.”  If the image of Scripture about our sinfulness is that we are “dead,” then isn’t it fair to conclude that dead people do not make choices?  So, how then does a person surrender His life to Jesus?  How does a person submit to the Lordship of Jesus?  The answer is the astounding, amazing grace of God.  God comes to us as sinners and awakens in us what is needed through the conviction of sin to bring us to repentance and faith which are themselves gifts of the grace of God.  And through these gifts of grace we yield our lives to Jesus as Lord trusting Him alone for our salvation as we open our lives to the sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit whose work in our lives too is a gift of grace.

Irresistible grace is simply the reality that when God begins to move in our lives to bring us the gifts of repentance and faith, those gifts that emerge out of His awakening us to our sinfulness and His saving us from our sin; we do not resist because we are so overwhelmed by His grace.  Luke records for us that episode when Jesus was coming into town and met a funeral procession on the way to the cemetary.  Jesus saw the grief striken mother and the child on the funeral pyre.  He was moved with compassion and He manifest grace.  He spoke the dead person and the dead person was awakened to life.  That was irresistible grace.  That was God moving in a mighty way to awaken the dead.  It is no different than what God does whenver a sinner is saved.

I think our problem and struggle with irresistible grace has nothing to do with grace.  It has to do with the reality that we do not really see how sinful we are.  If I am basically good by nature with some part of God in me by nature, then I can believe perhaps that I can choose the course of my life when I want to choose and how I want to choose.  But If I am thorougly and totally sinful, then any choice I make is rooted in and rests upon God’s choice to call me out of the darkness of death as He delivers to me His grace.  We sing about irresistible grace every time we sing, “Amazing grace how sweet the sound, that saved a wretch like me; I once was lost but now am found, was blind but now I see.”  Irresistible grace in its most simple form is that grace comes looking for us even when we don’t go looking for grace.

 

 Ten Words for Parents Part II [43:50m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Ephesians 6:1-4 [+/-]Ephesians 6:1-4 [6:1]Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. [2]"Honor your father and mother" (this is the first commandment with a promise), [3]"that it may go well with you and that you may live long in the land." [4]Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord. (ESV)

Ten words constitute the core of what is communicated here in these four verses.  These words are very clear and very concise.  They make plain the role of children to parents and parents to children.  They lay open to us a choice:  either we commit ourselves to the Word of God to hear and to heed it or in this issue of parenting, we choose another path.  Whenever it is as believers that we choose to defy and thus to disobey the Word of God, that is simply a sign of what is going on elsewhere in our lives.  To be disobedient in one place is to be disobedient in other places even when we do not know it.  The outcome is a life lived where we say with our lips that Jesus is Lord but live our lives in ways that reveal that he is not Lord at all.  So let’s look this morning at these ten words beginning with a very quick review of the two that we tackled last time.

Learn more about this message by downloading the sermon notes here!

Why should a church do mission trips?  Well, I suppose the best answer is the biblical one and it is simply that a church going to others with the gospel of Jesus in locations other than their own backyard is the heart and soul of what missions really is all about.  A church that is not sending people out to the world simply does not really love the world nor the God who gave His one and only Son to this world that He loves.  Now this does not mean for a minute that every person in every church ought to go on a mission trip nor does it mean that every person ought to serve for a short or long time as a missionary. But some, those who are called out by God for such service, must go. They are compelled to go on these trips.  We could stop here and have all that is needed to legitimize mission teams from local churches going on mission trips.  But I want to go further.

One of the real reasons for going on a mission trip is that we get to see God work in ways that we do not otherwise get to see Him work.  Now this one I cannot explain but I have experienced this truth on every mission trip.  It never fails.  I met on this trip a most interesting man named Brad Williams.  This man is spending eight weeks in Alaska doing mission work.  His wife is a military doctor in Iraq and he is here.  Not back home sulking over his situation or taking some extra income with which he has been blessed to do what brings him pleasure, but spending his money in serving others for the glory of God.  I met a man named Lloyd Price from Tennessee who is here in Alaska for seven weeks.  He asked me the other day, “Pastor Al, do you believe in retirement?”  I said, “no, why would one retire from that which he loves and besides I have all eternity to relax and rest in the presence of God.”  He smiled.  “Good, ” he said, “neither do I; I am 72 with two very bad knees and I want to keep going for God and His Kingdom.” 

God brought us children for the VBS and I saw our ladies be used of God to touch their lives.  I watched Brian work so hard and with such joy and I saw God bring a man from California, a man from North Carolina, and a young man from Georgia to complete our team to give us just what we needed to do the work.  God worked.  We got to see Him work.  That is why we go on mission trips.  Sounds selfish, doesn’t it?  But who does not want to see God work. And we did.  We five tired bodies and refreshed in spirit make our way home beginning on Thursday.  We will see you on Sunday. 

 

 Reports from Lynch Kentucky Mission Trip [41:44m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Acts 1:8 [+/-]Acts 1:8 [8]But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth." (ESV)

Partially at first glance, it almost seems like it was nothing out of the ordinary. Very clean and very quiet, Lynch, Benham and Cumberland are not all that different from say, maybe Waynesboro, Sardis and Keysville. This region was once very prosperous until the closure of Portal 31, the entrance to the coalfields that put them on the map. And it’s not hard to imagine what life would be like around here if perhaps Plant Votgle or SRS left the region…probably a lot like that. And truth be told; we did roughly the same sort of things that we might have done here in Waynesboro. And for that I am grateful because it tells of the deeper truth that we are blessed to be a part of a church that sees and behaves as thought the mission field is both near and far. So why did we go?

Listen to the message as team members representing the families that journeyed up to Kentucky share some personal stories! Also, more photographs from the journey can be found on our gallery.

We have just finished up a pot-luck lunch after the worship service here this morning.  Complete with fresh halibut and smoked salmon, the lunch was delicious.  You do not know how much I love salmon.  Anne and I eat a lot of salmon at our house, so much in fact that she asked me recently if we could at least go one week without it.  So, when I heard that fresh, smoked salmon was on the menu I was excited.  Amber bought a huge ham and we cooked it plus other things as our contribution.  It was all ver good.  And now we are off for our next stop where we will lead VBS in Koffman’s Cove for the next three days. i

We did not have too many in worship today, only six from the local church plus the pastor and his family.  It was good worship but it gave me a time to pause and thank God for where I am so privilieged to serve.  I am such a blessed pastor and so spoiled.  For example, I get so much time each week to study for sermons and the pastor here gets so little time.  He is busy during the summer taking care of teams that are here.  He is constantly on the go from one place to another.  He has little time except very early in the morning to pray and to study.  And then he comes to church each sunday to lead worship and preach to from six to a maximum number of twenty. 

Being here has given me a whole new appreciation for those called to this kind of work.  This is so hard for those who do this.  The conditions can be depressing:  snow and cold all winter and wet and cool all summer.  Seriously, it has rained every day all day with the clouds hanging so close overhead that they are suffocating.  The sun came out briefly today and Brian told me that it was the first time between last year and this year that he has seen the sun.  Wow!

Well, we are going to an area where I will be out of circulation for a few days.  I will try to give an update on Wednesday night if at all possible. 

 

 Do you want to be complete? [28:19m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

John 5:1-9 [+/-]John 5:1-9 [5:1]After this there was a feast of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. [2]Now there is in Jerusalem by the Sheep Gate a pool, in Aramaic called Bethesda, which has five roofed colonnades. [3]In these lay a multitude of invalids--blind, lame, and paralyzed. [5]One man was there who had been an invalid for thirty-eight years. [6]When Jesus saw him lying there and knew that he had already been there a long time, he said to him, "Do you want to be healed?" [7]The sick man answered him, "Sir, I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up, and while I am going another steps down before me." [8]Jesus said to him, "Get up, take up your bed, and walk." [9]And at once the man was healed, and he took up his bed and walked. Now that day was the Sabbath. (ESV)

Dr. Larry Guido of the Guido Evangelistic Association shared a very encouraging message from the Gospel of John about an invalid, that had to decide if he wanted to be healed.
Learn more about Guido Evangelistic Association by visiting their website.

Hello for Ketchikan, Alaska.  It is July 4, 2008 and I have just stood on the streets of this little town in Alaska composed of about six thousand and watched an old-fashioned, soul-stirring, makes me proud to be an American fourth of July parade.  The people in this little town are locked in by water, both that which surrounds them and on this day that which is falling from the sky.  It is now about sixty degrees at most and most of the six thousand are here for the parade.  It was a wonderful sight to see and a wonderful event to experience.  While watching the parade I stood with a man who wanted to talk politics:  Obama or McCain, Republican or Democrat??  What is it like in Georgia?  Who is going to win the election?  My response to the man who wanted to talk was this, “do you know what is really great about this whole thing?  You and I are having this conversation without looking over our shoulders to wonder who is hearing and what they are doing about it.  We can carry on this conversation with candor that includes differing perspectives and still celebrate who we are as Americans.  That is what is really great about this whole thing and what is really great about this whole day.” 

We are spending the day here helping out a church in an outreach effort and then tomorrow we will move on to Hollis.  So have a great week and we will return to TULIP soon.

I am about to leave Thursday morning for Alaska.  I have no idea how much posting I will be able to do from our fifty-ninth state but I will try.  Please pray for the five members of our team and particularly on July 4 as we will that day be in the port city of Ketchikan with numerous opportunities to witness to the Gospel.  I am told that numerous cruise ships will be in for the day and as people disembark, we will have the opportunity as a part of one of the churches in Ketchikan to minister to people.  That really excites me.  That will be my own fireworks for the fourth, just getting to talk with people about their need for Jesus.  So, keep us in your prayers.

Limited atonement is the most difficult part of TULIP for most people I know.  It creates a real struggle for me, less now than at first since at first my struggle was created by a misunderstanding and thus a misapplication of its meaning.  Now that I understand what it means biblically and theologically, it does not create for me the concern that it created at first.  That does not mean that I do not struggle with it.  I do.  I struggle with it because I am a man.  I struggle with it because I am an American.  I struggle with it because I am prideful.  My struggle with it helps me see inside some of the darkness that is in my soul.  I struggle with it because I do not like anybody having an inordinate amount of control over my life; I want to have at least some sense that I am really the one who is in charge.  This particular part of TULIP leaves me gasping for breath for it reveals the greateness of God in saving anybody and the depravity of my own heart in thinking that everybody ought to be saved.  When I think the latter I show how little I understand of the depserately dark character of my sin in the face of an absolutely holy God.  When I fail to think fully the former, I make God into something manlike that I can manage if not manipulate.

Limited atonement simply means that God has made atonement for our sins through the shed blood of His Son Jesus Christ on Calvary and the application of that atonement that was purchased at Calvary is limited to those whom God has chosen and called to Himself, those whom He has known from before the foundation of the world.  The opposite of limited atonement is general atonement.  The word atonement means the same but when “general” is attached to it, then it means that the work of Jesus on Calvary is applied to all.  Now this leads to the horrendous conclusion either that all are saved or that some whose sins have been atoned at Calvary are not saved simply because they do not choose to be saved.  It is when I began to see this reality about the atonement and its application that limited atonement made perfect sense to me.

Limited atonement does not abrogate human responsibility.  It is God who exercises the initiative toward the sinner who under the conviction of the Holy Spirit and through the gifts of repentance and faith cries out for mercy and forgiveness.  Such a one is justified by grace through faith and given the gift of the Spirit who begins the work of sanctification in that now saved by grace sinner.  Limited atonement means that God saves by grace through faith those whom He wills to save whose wills are moved to God by the will of God in changing the will of the sinner.  Limited atonement is found in as famous a verse as John 3:16 [+/-]John 3:16 [16]"For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. (ESV)
.  This verse does not teach that God so loved the world that He saved the world but that He loved the world that He gave His one and only Son that whoever believes in Him . . .   That is limited atonement at two levels.  It limits atonement to Jesus alone as the way of salvation and limits it to those who call upon Jesus in faith.

Now we are back at where we must be in the discussion of every petal of TULIP:  how sinful are we as human beings?  Is there enough of God in us that by nature we would cry out to God or does our calling out for mercy require the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives?  If you answer the former, then you see humans as bipartite beings who have within us by birth and nature that which is mortal and immortal, that which is human and that which is “god.”  If you answer the latter, then you must believe that God awakens by His Spirit those who are His or that He awakens everybody by His Spirit and some choose while others don’t which is to elevate the status of man and devalue God as God.  If God chooses all then why the cross?  If God gives Jesus on the cross for all who choose Jesus, why the cross?  Why pay this price if everybody is going to be saved or why pay it if there is only possibility that some will be?  Calvary in its awesome gruesomeness was about God paying the price to purchase a people of Himself who are His by His choice and His call and His grace, those whom He has known as His from before the foundation of the world.

Limited atonement simply means that God gave His one and only Son to the world as the only way that anybody in the world can ever be saved.  But God took it one step further.  Otherwise salvation is left as a potential possibility to be determined by the selection of sinful human beings who have shown since Adam that given a choice between the assurance of the eternal blessing of paradise and the possibilities that exist behind some closed door through which we cannot see, we will choose the closed door!  God reached into this world that He made and raised up out of it people that He made that He might redeem out of His world that He made from among people He made a people for Himself who would live for the praise of His Name by seeking to fulfill His purpose.  Limited atonement leaves us no middle ground.  We either blame God that He is unfair, with us determining what is fair or we bless God because He isn’t fair, knowing that fair would mean eternal condemnation for all.  In His grace, He has chosen to save some.  And you can and I are among them when we cry out to Him for mercy and then hold on to Him as He changes our lives to be instruments of grace in His great hands.

 

 June 1, 2008 Study on Ephesians [29:54m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Ephesians 5:18-35 [+/-]Ephesians 5:18-33 [18]And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit, [19]addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart, [20]giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, [21]submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ. [22]Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord. [23]For the husband is the head of the wife even as Christ is the head of the church, his body, and is himself its Savior. [24]Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit in everything to their husbands. [25]Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, [26]that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, [27]so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish. [28]In the same way husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. [29]For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ does the church, [30]because we are members of his body. [31]"Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh." [32]This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church. [33]However, let each one of you love his wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her husband. (ESV)

a study on Ephesians by Don Veldboom, Associate Pastor.